In frequency hopping communication systems signals are transmitted on a series of different frequencies in successive short bursts. One example is the Bluetooth system, in which signals are transmitted by hopping between 79 channels, with a burst transmitted at each hop.
It is generally desirable to increase the range of operation of communication systems. In a radio system such as Bluetooth, it might theoretically be expected that if transmission power is increased by a factor of 100, range will be increased by a factor of 10. In practice, however, range is typically increased by only a factor of around 0.3. This is due to the fact that in realistic environments there is interference between signals that have taken different paths between the transmitter and the receiver. This interference results in localized regions of cancellation or “fades”.
Digital communication systems such as Bluetooth normally incorporate error correction mechanisms that can accommodate some signal degradation. However, when there are too many errors—typically more than 2% for a voice signal carried over Bluetooth—the underlying signal will not be recoverable.
A conventional antenna diversity transceiver has two or more antennas that are spaced apart. The transceiver can use the antennas together or can select a preferred one of the antennas for transmission or reception. This offers advantages because when one antenna is located in a fade, another antenna may still be effective. Antenna diversity has previously been implemented in devices such as DECT base stations.
There are well-known methods for selecting how to combine or choose between diversity antennas in a system that operates at a single constant frequency for transmission or reception, such as a typical TDMA (time division multiple access) system. In such systems it is relatively straightforward to identify which antenna will provide better performance at any time. The system operates for a prolonged period at a single frequency and so the performance of the antennas at that frequency can be monitored and used as the basis for selection between them.
Selecting between antennas in a frequency hopping system is more complex because the locations of fades depend on the frequency at which the system is operating. Because the system transmits only short bursts at each frequency it is not possible to make a prolonged measurement of the performance of each antenna continuously in a way that is directly indicative of its performance at a particular frequency. Unlike in a system in which transmission continues at a particular frequency for a prolonged time, the movement of the antenna into a fade cannot be tracked continuously in a frequency hopping system. For that reason, antenna diversity is not widely used in frequency hopping systems.
However, it is not always practical or economical to provide a receiver with multiple antennas for receiving signal bursts. This is especially true for compact devices which cannot support antennas spaced apart by several wavelengths. Devices having only one antenna cannot benefit from antenna diversity techniques.
There is therefore a need for a method which improves the reception of signal bursts at a single antenna.